


You Are Not Like the Regulars

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Series: Shadowhunters Re-Watch Fics! Codas, Scene Fills, etc. [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Crushes, Episode: s01e02 The Descent Into Hell Isn't Easy, F/M, POV Isabelle Lightwood, Worried Isabelle Lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28863609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: Isabelle knows the front she puts on in the presence of her brothers - the way she hooks her arm around Simon’s to lead him as they walk, the slightly-too-loud giggles and the exaggerated smiles and the lilt to her words that isn’t normally there - but it’s only partially an act. She sees the way Simon reacts to it - to her - and is surprised to discover that she wants him to keep reacting.
Relationships: Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood
Series: Shadowhunters Re-Watch Fics! Codas, Scene Fills, etc. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2108703
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	You Are Not Like the Regulars

Isabelle knows the front she puts on in the presence of her brothers - the way she hooks her arm around Simon’s to lead him as they walk, the slightly-too-loud giggles and the exaggerated smiles and the lilt to her words that isn’t normally there - but it’s only partially an act. She sees the way Simon reacts to it - to _her_ \- and is surprised to discover that she wants him to keep reacting. She wants to keep seeing that smile on his face, the adorable stammer when he’s flustered, the way his eyes light up when she brings up things like his music. 

She wonders how much of it is because of her, and how much because of the act she puts on around the others. It’s one of the reasons why she’s so eager to keep getting Simon alone - he’s interesting. She isn’t just using him to pass the time - okay, well, maybe she is a little bit - but she’s also actually _interested_. The guys she knows are all the same, either Shadowhunters with something to prove or Downworlders who mostly want her because they see it as some sort of ‘fuck you’ to the Clave. She doesn’t mind, but it does get old, and this… this is _new_. Simon is new. 

For everything Isabelle’s experienced in the Shadow World, her time with mundanes in anything other than a ‘shooing them out of danger’ capacity has been extremely limited, and Simon is _fascinating_. She’s known Shadowhunters who didn’t want to step foot into the City of Bones, and here’s this mundane willing to go without a second thought, just to be by his friend’s side. She’s always looked at Mundanes as weak and helpless, and… okay, maybe Simon was technically both of those things, but he also should’ve left running at least a dozen times from what he’s seen so far. But he isn’t - he’s still here, and that sure is _something_. 

And sure, she’s only known him for a day, but Jace has only known Clary for a day and she sees the way he looks at her so at least he has no room to talk. It isn’t like it’s anything serious - just some flirting, just a crush - but she has to admit that it isn’t borne from boredom alone. There’s a real interest in Simon hidden beneath her casual flirtations and her general enjoyment of having attention on herself, something that tells her there’s something there; that spark, that instinctual connection some people have, the kind she’s only ever heard about or seen in fiction.

It scares her a little, which is part of the reason she falls back so heavily on what she knows best: the _act_ of being interested. Because actually, _seriously_ being interested? That isn’t something she’s prepared to deal with just then, especially not with everything else going on. Plus, she isn’t a fool - she sees the way he looks at Clary, even if Clary doesn’t. Izzy isn’t about to put herself in a prime heartbreak position over a boy who loves someone else. No thank you, she’ll keep any actual feelings far, far away… and in the meantime, she’ll listen to his band’s music and just enjoy the change of pace. 

Except there’s a noise, and the fear Isabelle feels over something potentially attacking Simon isn’t the fear for some mundane she couldn’t care less about, and she lets that fear cloud her usually pristine judgment enough to leave Simon alone. She should know better - she should stay here to defend him, or take him with her, but she wants to keep him out of danger so badly she does the thing that leaves him the most vulnerable without realizing: she tells him to stay put. 

The relief she feels at the area around the van being clear is gone as soon as it comes when she returns to the van to find Simon’s missing from where she left him locked in just _minutes_ before, and it’s her fault. After the way she’s been acting no one is going to believe it isn’t due to casual neglect and indifference. No one is going to believe that Isabelle’s insides are churning with guilt and anxiety, that it was because she _did_ secretly care for Simon that she left him in the van where she thought he’d be safe. 

Part of her is tempted to stay out here and look on her own until she finds him, but she knows she has to tell the others. She has to tell Alec, he can help, he’ll know what to do. He’ll never let her hear the end of it, but it’ll be worth it to fix this. 

Collecting herself the best she can, Isabelle takes one last regretful look at the empty van and heads back towards the others. 

**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell)! <3 )


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